Alaa Hassan

The plans to build a massive development in the center of Damascus were laid out in the earlysixties when Al-Baath party usurped power in Syria. The construction of a mall, popularelyknown as “Yalbugha”, began in the early seventies. The attempts to finish it extended overfour decades without much visible progress to the bare building. Successive local administrations attempted to get the project done, but it remained a huge empty castle in the city’s center.That the mall and the Al-Baath party had developed simultaneously made the building ascreaming symbol of unacheivable big dreams and broken promises. And because thisvoid was surrounded by historical sites, destroying it without also damaging the country’sheritage was impossible. A structure that could never be finished could never be removed.At the beginning of the new millennium, creating a suitable environment for foreign investmentbecame a priority for the Syrian government. Thus, after years of state controlledurban planning, government policy changed to allow the private sector to enter the market.Thousands of construction jobs were created, including those at the Yalbugha mall.

Alaa Hassan

Alaa Hassan is a photographer from Syria based in NY, political and social documentary photography